


Shelter

by Misaki_0415



Series: To my Beloved: Thank you 🤍 [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Appreciate Oikawa QWQ, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gossip, Haikyuu-freeform, High School, Hurt/Comfort, Iwaizumi protecting his captain QAQ, Iwaoi-Freefrom, Kissing, Living Together, M/M, Oikawa hated on for being amazing and just the way he is qwq, Rumors, haters talking bad about Oikawa bc he's everything they'll never be, more or less "Iwaizumi: don't touch my man how dare you :V"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27559633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misaki_0415/pseuds/Misaki_0415
Summary: Behind his carefree smile, his insecurities loiters in his mind, every sneer bringing a blade to his heart.Yet he had never felt more safe as a pair of strong arms wrapped around him protectively, shielding him from harm.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Series: To my Beloved: Thank you 🤍 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1989328
Comments: 6
Kudos: 88





	Shelter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TofuRamen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TofuRamen/gifts).



> To all of you out there who's having a bad day or have been bothered by gossip/rumours before, don't let it get to you ._. you're amazing :) I hope you enjoy reading this uwu  
> And if you're not having a bad day, then that's great! Let it stay that way :D and I hope you enjoy reading it~!  
> (Psst TofuRamen I hope you like it ;D)

“Ahh...What to do...What to do...” He fiddled with his fingers nervously as his mocha-brown locks bobbed in the breeze frantically, a piece of crumpled paper in hand. He leaned on the wall with a bag swung over his shoulder, his foot tapping on the floor restlessly. 

Oikawa‘s brow furrowed as he pushed his bangs back only for them to fall out of place again. He sighed in frustration. Smoothening the poor wrinkled paper he had clenched in his fist, a clear ‘F’ in red crept into sight—and as if taunting him, everything else on the paper seemed blurry, only the ‘F’ stood out with clarity. 

Oikawa scanned through his paper over and over again, hoping to catch a glimpse of error in the teacher’s marking. Yet he only saw the mistakes in his scribbles— _ why on earth would he have written that? _ Why, just why, would he write ‘D’ when he circled the correct answer ‘B’ on the question paper? 

_ Stupid mistakes. How careless of me. _

__ Yet this absolutely intolerable grade was the least of his concerns. What he feared most was the disappointed look on Iwaizumi’s face—all the time they had spent revising together, and all the time Iwaizumi had used to tutor him. Imagine—imagine the disappointment. 

To receive a dejected gaze from Iwaizumi.

_ What a joyous day. _

Oikawa grumbled as he shoved the paper into his bag and trudged away from the classroom. He wished time would slow down—he wished the way back home would extend. He wasn’t mentally prepared to face Iwaizumi—not yet. He directed his gaze at the ground as he slouched, as if trying to blend in with surroundings to hide his pathetic state.

“Ooh, you guys know Oikawa? The captain of the volleyball team?”

Oikawa stopped in his tracks upon hearing his name. He followed the giggles and saw a few girls standing just in front of him not so far away. He took a step back and slipped into the shadows, trying to make out what the girls were saying while staying hidden.

“Oikawa? Of course! I don’t know about you guys, but I  _ absolutely _ cannot stand him!” One of the girls stuck up her nose and rolled her eyes.

Oikawa’s heart dropped, revolting at the  excruciating  tugging at his lungs. He inhaled sharply, almost choking on the merciless cold air. Biting his lip, he forced his tears back as he continued to eavesdrop. 

“Oh my god, same. I don’t get why so many girls scream whenever they see him—like, hello?” Another girl groaned as she waved her hands and shrugged. “He’s so obnoxious and childish—is that something worth fangirling over?”

The girls giggled as they agreed with her comment, making more snarky remarks about Oikawa. Oikawa hadn’t noticed, but he was shaking ever so slightly—his grip on the wall tightened, his nails digging into the cement. His heartbeat was deafening now, yet their words were even louder as they replayed in his head over and over again. Distorted and broken, it resembled a cursed melody he couldn’t erase from his memories. He wanted to run away, to run away from it all so badly yet  _ he couldn’t _ . He couldn’t—his feet stayed glued to the campus grounds, and his body felt weak as he leaned on the wall for support. 

Brash  comments—weren’t anything new to him. Perhaps it was just a bad day. Perhaps it was because sometimes he’d care about others opinions and take them to heart. Perhaps—

“Who was it again, the one always with Oikawa? Iwaizumi?”

_ Iwaizumi? _

__ “Yeah, the vice captain. They’re best friends, aren’t they? I feel bad for Iwaizumi though, having to deal with that pathetic toddler always whining for no reason.”

_ Having to deal...with me? _

__ “Oh yeah— Isn’t Oikawa always causing trouble for him?”

_ I...am? _

__ “Yeah, he is. Calling him ‘Iwa-chan’ or something.”

“Iwa-chan, Iwa-chan—Pffft!” The girl in the middle laughed as she mimicked Oikawa calling out to Iwaizumi. “What is he, ten?”

_ Shut up. _

__ “Iwaizumi is honestly a lot more attractive than Oikawa, isn’t he? Reliable too~”

_ Shut up, shut up, shut up— _

_ Am I even worthy of standing by Iwa-chan’s side—to be with him? _

__ Oikawa dropped to his knees, his hand clamped over his mouth in case he were to make a sound. A cry of anguish—no, he wasn’t about to expose the fact he had been hiding and listening onto them. What about Iwaizumi? He never said anything—but was he truly happy to be with Oikawa? 

_ Or am I dragging him down? _

_ Am I being too dramatic? There’s always going to be people who don’t like me—that’s normal. Why am I making such a fuss? Am I really that obnoxious? Iwa-chan called me childish before—is he just putting up with me? I— _

_ I don’t know anymore. _

__ To run away—away from everything. Oikawa took a deep breath as he got up and slipped out of the shadows, staggering down the corridor opposite from the girls, their chattering gradually becoming inaudible.

“Iwa-chan, Iwa-chan, I—”

_ I need you. Now. _

_ But do you need me? _

__ Oikawa ducked behind a wall at the sight of a group of boys loitering at the end of the corridor a corner away from Oikawa.

_ Wait, why am I hiding? The girls from just now really made me paranoid... _

__ “Oikawa isn’t even that pretty—why does he get a club of fangirls crying out his name and asking for pictures when he just  _ exists _ ?”

_ What? _

_ What the heck is up with today? First it was the girls, and now the boys as well?  _

Now, if Oikawa had the courage to step out of his hiding place and made himself noticeable to the gossiping boys, they would have shut up. Yet, Oikawa chose to freeze on the spot as the criticism began to shower upon him.

“I don’t know, man. Girls are hard to understand. Does it make him cooler just because he plays volleyball?”

Oikawa blinked in confusion. Speechless, to be honest—what kind of conversation is this anyways?

“Maybe if we start fooling around being all childish and stuff with a smile on our faces, we’ll be as popular as him—I mean, that’s literally what he does on a daily basis, right?”

The boys roared in laughter as they nodded in agreement. Oikawa averted his gaze to the ground, shuffling uncomfortably as he fiddled with his fingers. 

“Hey, have you seen the post on ‘Aoba Secrets’?”

_ Post? _

__ “The one of Oikawa making Karasuno’s setter bow to him? Yeah, I felt second hand embarrassment from just watching him do that.” 

“How pathetic—that setter’s a first year, isn’t he?”

“His former underclassman too, I think. Kageyama, the setter from the ‘scary quick attack duo’ from Karasuno, right? Rumours had it he refused to teach Kageyama even when they were on the same team—guess nothing has changed over the years.”

_ Tobio-chan? Oh, that time— _

__ Oikawa felt his blood freeze. He remembered that time when Kageyama had asked him for help and he had Kageyama bow to him—yes, it was childish of him to do so even though he meant for it to be a joke. He had never thought someone would take a picture of that and post it on social media. 

_ This day couldn’t get anymore worse... _

__ Oikawa sighed as he walked away with his head down to escape—no more of it,  _ please _ . 

_ No more. _

__ He covered his ears with clenched fists unconsciously, trying to block out whatever sound was in the background. But their taunts persisted in his mind—in his brain, occupying all his thoughts. Suddenly stopping in his tracks, he sank to the floor, huddled in the shadows away from the sunlight. He heard it in this head no matter how hard he tried to distract himself—to get his mind off this miserable day.

“Ah...I’m late for practice...Iwa-chan’s going to get mad at me...”

_ Or would he even notice I wasn’t there? _

__ The leaves rustled sadly as Oikawa quickened his pace, the rushed tapping of his footsteps echoing in the empty corridors. Pity he hadn’t bothered to check his phone.

He would have noticed the missed calls and text messages of worry from Aoba’s beloved vice captain.

...

The ball hit the net weakly and dropped to the ground, bouncing a few times awkwardly before coming to a halt. Oikawa sighed.

“Sorry...”

Oikawa bowed to his teammates as he apologized for his sloppy serves. Somehow, he couldn’t serve like he usually did—he couldn’t gather and concentrate the strength in his hand. 

“...Don’t mind.” Kunimi muttered after a moment of tense silence hanging between the team, throwing everyone off guard. He had his usual indifferent expression on his face, yet perhaps even he had felt something was a bit off about Oikawa today. Oikawa usually had a cheerful smile on his face, yet there was something depressing about his aura today—and Kunimi felt like some kind of comfort or encouragement was necessary now and then.

Oikawa stole a glance at Iwaizumi, regretting as soon as he did so. Iwaizumi had a frown on his face with his brow furrowed—disapproval and irritation. Oikawa couldn’t blame him—even he was beginning to get agitated about his performance. 

_ One more serve...one more serve, I’ll fix it— _

__ Desperately praying for it to work out. Desperately trying to ignore what he had hear earlier today, trying to distract himself and trying to focus. Please, _ please _ , didn’t people say things will always get better somehow? 

It didn’t.

Oikawa got more and more frustrated as he kept messing up—to the point he wasn’t serving anymore, but rather just throwing the ball in bitterness. Iwaizumi wasn’t even looking at him—as if tired of seeing him at his worst.

_ No more... _

__ Oikawa slumped to the ground defeated. HIs teammates, not knowing what had happened to him, only patted him on the back telling him to take a break.

What he needed wasn’t a comfy mattress and pillow to lean on—if only it could have been as simple as that.

He needed the world to give him a break—to silence the ghastly chanting in his head. 

_ Shut up...leave me alone— _

_ —please. _

__ ...

“You’re finally home—” Iwaizumi peeked out of the kitchen in an apron Oikawa had bought him only to be greeted by a blank expression.

“Mmhmm.” Oikawa carelessly flung his bag onto a nearby chair and started to unbutton his cardigan as he walked and plopped down on the couch. Iwaizumi cocked his head, as if waiting for Oikawa to speak.

“Iwa-ch—”

Yet as soon as Oikawa blurted out Iwaizumi’s nickname out of habit, his instincts stopped him. As if daring him to say the name that used to come out of his lips so naturally, he revolted at the thought of the girls mimicking him earlier today. Iwaizumi frowned and disappeared into the kitchen. Oikawa’s shoulders drooped as he sighed and hung his head, not really knowing what to do.

“...Aren’t you going to finish what you were going to say?”

Oikawa looked up to the sound coming from the kitchen with his mouth slightly open—a slight hint of surprise flickered in his eyes for a brief second before it disappeared again.

“I-Iwa-chan, I’m home...”

“Dinner’s almost ready. What took you so long to get home?” Iwaizumi came out again with a pot in hand, swirls of smoke rose and floated to the ceiling as he set it on the table which already had a few other dishes of steaming cuisine set out some time ago.

“...I was practicing my serves.”

Iwaizumi, who was about to head back to the kitchen, stopped in his tracks. He turned and looked at Oikawa, who was visibly upset. Iwaizumi leaned on the wall, staring at Oikawa thoughtfully. His mocha-brown curls drooped miserably like a rose wilting in the harsh embrace of winter; his glassy eyes were trying so hard not to let his tears spill, flickering in doubt and uncertainty—his eyes reflected a sandy beach dampened by the tide washing over now and then, shifting along with the waves. A tug and a push, as if trying to throw him off balance—it was simply too much. Oikawa bit his lip as he quietly curled up and hugged his legs as he buried his head in his knees, his coffee locks bobbing in the minty breeze.

Iwaizumi sighed and quickly unfastened his apron, flinging it onto the kitchen counter before returning to the dining table.

“Eat up, Tooru. You need to replenish your energy.” Iwaizumi sat down and gestured to Oikawa. Oikawa looked up, causing Iwaizumi to inhale the night air sharply. His eyes almost seemed lifeless to Iwaizumi—staring into the distance blankly. Yet Oikawa gave him his best smile—the best smile he could force. His gaze flitted about in the surroundings before steadying onto the mouthwatering dinner Iwaizumi had prepared.

“...I’ll get ready for bed.” Oikawa shook his head, his bangs falling out of place and covered his eyes as he did so. He got up and shuffled to the bathroom with his head down. Iwaizumi’s gaze trailed his footsteps until Oikawa disappeared behind the door. He turned and looked at the plates of food. 

“This doesn’t feels right...” Sighing, he got up and headed for the kitchen and came back out with a few plastic containers in hand. The silver spoon glinted under the moonlight as he scooped up the untouched food and transferred it to the plastic containers. He furrowed his brow and stared at the food with a hard gaze, his hands gradually coming to a stop. 

“...” Iwaizumi clamped the containers shut and fell back onto the chair. He looked at the empty plates as his mind drifted to a few hours ago...

_ “Iwaizumi is honestly a lot more attractive than Oikawa, isn’t he? Reliable too—” _

_ “Yeah! What good is there about Oikawa anyways?” _

_ “How would I know? I’m not one of his mindless fangirls!” _

_ “...ahem.”  _

_ The girls stopped giggling and turned at the sound of a series of fake coughing. Iwaizumi walked pass them as he purposely slowed his pace, giving them all a hard, stern glare before averting his gaze to the front coldly.  _

_ “E-Eep, he heard us...” _

_ “L-Let’s go to the new cafe! We can get some coffee and treats—” _

_ The girls frantically scrambled away, trying to get out of Iwaizumi’s sight as fast as possible. Iwaizumi frowned. He noticed a blur of brown before he stepped out of his hiding spot and made himself visible to the girls—and there was only one word on his mind. _

_ Tooru. _

_ His footsteps quickened as he tried to walk faster—slowly turning into a sprint. He ran down the corridor with worried beads of sweat forming on his clenched fists. _

_ Tooru, Tooru, Tooru—He pulled his phone out and dialed Oikawa’s number. No answer. He called again and again, yet Oikawa seemed to have set his phone on silent. _

_ That idiot must have heard the girls too. That idiot— _

_ He abruptly stopped and took a few steps back and hid behind a wall. He peeked and caught a glimpse of Oikawa, who was shaking and fiddling with his fingers. He strained to pick up the voices of the bunch of boys chattering at the end of the corridor.  _

_ “Freaking hell... what the heck is up with today?!” Iwaizumi muttered under his breath as he whipped out his phone and opened the ‘Aoba Secrets’ page. He swiped through the posts and finally, a picture of Oikawa with a victorious pose and Kageyama bowing to him came into sight.  _

_ “Crappykawa...” Childish, but harmless. Iwaizumi groaned as he messaged the owner of the account ‘Aoba Secrets’ for them to take the post down.  _

_ “Now just to wait for a reply...crap! I’m late for practice!” Iwaizumi quickly shoved his phone into his pocket and searched for Oikawa, but Oikawa had already ran away. _

_ “Damnit...” Iwaizumi turned and picked up his pace as he ran to the gym and took out his phone, his fingers frantically tapping on the screen to send a few text messages to Oikawa.  _

_ Crappykawa...please be okay. _

_ He barged into the gym and looked around. No sign of the cheery captain. _

_ “You’re late. That’s a first.”  _

_ Kunimi tossed him the ball. Iwaizumi reached out and caught it as he apologized and went to get changed. After a few minutes, Oikawa arrived at the gym, looking even more tired than usual. Kunimi shot Iwaizumi a questioning look, who averted his gaze and shrugged. _

_ ... _

_ “...Sorry...” Oikawa bowed to them as the ball came to a halt after bouncing off the net. Iwaizumi frowned. He knew Oikawa was affected by the comments they had heard earlier, and he was racking his brains to figure out how to cheer Oikawa up. _

_ “...what to do...what to do...” Iwaizumi mumbled but quickly snapped out of it as his concentration returned to the volleyball.  _

_ Baam! _

_ Iwaizumi turned his head to see his teammates running towards Oikawa, who had collapsed on the ground, his knees colliding with the floor heavily. _

_ “Oikawa! Your knees!” Iwaizumi rushed over as the others made an opening for him. He carefully helped Oikawa sit and stretched his legs. Gently, he laid his hand on Oikawa’s kneecaps and observed Oikawa’s expression. His heart thumped in pain as Oikawa flinched and grimaced. _

_ “Crappykawa, take it easy...”  _

_ Oikawa stayed silent. He struggled and staggered a bit as he got up—it was clear he had no intentions of taking it easy.  _

_ “One more serve.” Oikawa held up his hand. _

_ “...” _

_ This idiot... _

_ ... _

__ Iwaizumi looked at the bag Oikawa had left on the chair and noticed the corner of a piece of crumbled paper peeking out. He opened the bag and took the paper out, a big red ‘F’ crept into sight almost immediately.

“...” Iwaizumi flipped over the paper, scanning the question without the slightest hint of disappointment on his face. 

“To be fair, his answers weren’t entirely incorrect...the marking seems to be very strict though...” 

Iwaizumi grabbed a sticky note and scribbled furiously before releasing the pen from his hand, allowing it to roll away as he stuck the sticky note onto the paper.

‘You did well. Let’s revise together again on the weekends. -Hajime’

After leaving the paper on the table and putting the plastic containers in the fridge, he quickly showered and headed for the bedroom. The door creaked open and Iwaizumi slipped into the room, the ray of light he allowed into the room disappearing as the door shut with a soft click.

Under the azure moonlight, Oikawa had his eyes shut tightly as he gripped onto the sheets firmly. Iwaizumi tiptoed across the room, careful not to wake Oikawa up. The bed slightly creaked as Iwaizumi got into bed with Oikawa, who was frowning—with a closer look, a tear flickered in the moonlight as it rolled down his rosy cheek. 

“Tooru...”

Iwaizumi reached out and cupped his cheek, allowing the tear to fall into his palm. Oikawa gently rubbed his cheek against Iwaizumi’s hand as his tears started to spill again. Gradually, his sobs of frustration became audible, his cries clawing at Iwaizumi’s heart. Oikawa shuffled closer to Iwaizumi and reached out, his nails digging into the cloth as he tugged on Iwaizumi’s sleeves.

“Iwa-chan...please...don’t leave me behind...”

_ Thump. _

__ “Tooru...I would never leave you. Never in a million years.” 

Iwaizumi bit his lip as he pulled Oikawa closer and wrapped his arms around him, lovingly ruffling his hair from time to time, tousling his coffee locks. He ran his fingers through his hair, allowing Oikawa’s shampoo to replace the minty night air wafting in the room. 

“Hajime...”

Oikawa’s eyes fluttered open—his eyes were red and puffy from crying, yet his hazel brown eyes shone in the enticing moonlight ever so strongly—as if knowing he’ll be fine with Iwaizumi by his side. Oikawa pouted as his tears demanded to fall again, but Iwaizumi was quick enough to flick them away.

“Earlier today...I heard people say awful things about you. You were bothered, weren’t you?”

Iwaizumi closed his eyes and kissed Oikawa gently on the forehead. Oikawa’s lips curled up into a serene smile. It reminded Oikawa of the morning dew flickering in the vivid sunlight, nudging the virescent leaves as they nodded in the early breeze. It reminded him of the cherry blossoms petals they had seen together, lying side by side on the grassy meadows—a beguiling shade of pale pink fluttering above their eye, flitting about in the morning spring air. 

“Hajime...am I really what they say?”

“No, of course not. Don’t you dare be stupid enough to take their words to heart.” Iwaizumi hugged Oikawa closer to his chest, making his heartbeat audible to Oikawa. Oikawa nuzzled against the warmth pressed against his cheek, allowing the steady thumps of Iwaizumi’s chest soothe him. 

_ I’ll protect Tooru...if it’s the last thing I do. _

__ “You don’t need to fake a smile in front of me, Tooru.”

Oikawa looked up as his eyes widened slightly, his hazel brown eyes watering again. Iwaizumi narrowed his eyes affectionately as he gently grazed Oikawa’s cheek with loving fingertips and leaned in, this time kissing him on the lips. Lavish melodies rang in the surroundings as if a full orchestral piece was playing in the exact same room as them. The lush harmonies of piano and violin playing softly in the background accompanied as the kiss deepened with every changing angle. 

Oikawa’s hand slowly crept in search of Iwaizumi’s hand, but Iwaizumi was faster to reach out to his hand and in a blink of an eye, their hands were intertwined with one another firmly. In the night sky dipped in hues of the abyss, the lovers allowed the world to fall around them and dissolve into absolutely nothingness. They allowed all the pestering damage the outside world intended to inflict on them to fade away—whatever it takes, Iwaizumi swore to build a barrier, a blockade to keep out all the taunting gossip and rumours that had been raining knives and stones on Oikawa—no, he won’t let a single one of them hurt him. He wrapped his arms around Oikawa protectively, every ounce of energy in his body swearing to protect him.

“Everything will be fine, Tooru. I’ll stay with you forever—I won’t let them hurt you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading till the end! I hope you've enjoyed reading it! <3  
> Your support is greatly appreciated and honestly means everything to me! It would be my outmost honour if this was to your liking~!


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